OF FARRIERY. 



355 



would purchase him." Old Jack Medley, of 

 the Sporting Coffee House, declared that he 

 heard O 'Kelly ask, with singular gravity, the 

 sum of twenty-five thousand pounds down, 

 an annuity of five hundred pounds on his 

 own life, and the annual privilege of send- 

 ing six mares to the Horse, as the price for 

 Eclipse. O'Kelly affirmed, that he had ac- 

 quired upwards of twenty-five thousand pounds 

 by Eclipse. 



The Eclipse colt, when a yearling, was 

 purchased by Mr. Wildman for seventy-five 

 guineas, on the decease of the Duke of Cum- 

 berland, at the sale by auction of his Royal 

 Highness's stud. Marsk, the reputed sire of 

 Eclipse, subsequently on the New Forest, 

 covered country and forest mares at half-a 

 guinea each. The same Marsk, which after- 

 wards, being the property of Lord Abingdon, 

 covered at 100 guineas a mare, and was ad- 

 vertised, in succeeding seasons, by the noble 

 breeder, at 200 or 300 guineas a mare. 

 Wildman had a friend in the old Duke's 

 stud, from whom he obtained a hint of the 

 superior form of the Eclipse colt ; but mak- 

 ing the journey in haste, he did not arrive 

 until the sale had commenced, and his ob- 

 ject had been already knocked down at 70 

 guineas. Appealing instantly to his watch, 

 which he knew to be a correct time-piece, 

 he found the hour had not arrived by several 

 minutes at which the commencement of the 

 sale had been publicly advertised, and 

 thence firmly insisted there had been no 

 lawful sale, and that the lots knocked down 

 should be put up again. The knight of the 

 hammer, well aware of the resolution and 

 pecuniary weight of Mr. Wildman, very 

 prudently offered him the chance of any lot 

 he should choose. Eclipse was put up again, 



and Wildman purchased the yearling Eclipse 

 at an advance of five guineas. 



Eclipse, for what reason has never been 

 published, did not appear upon the Turf, 

 until he was full five years old, when he was 

 entered at Epsom for the Maiden Plate of 

 £50. There can be no doubt but that his 

 trials at Epsom had been watched, as the odds 

 at starting were four to one in his favour. 



O'Kelly was doubtless well aware of the 

 goodness of this maiden Horse, by the large 

 sums he then betted at such considerable 

 odds. In running the second winning-heat, 

 the whole five horses were close together, 

 at the three-mile post, when some of the 

 jockies used their whips ; Eclipse was 

 quietly jogging on at his moderate rate ; 

 when alarmed by the crack of the whips, he 

 bounded away, and notwithstanding his jockey 

 held him back with all his force, not one of 

 his competitors could save his distance. 



In running over the course at York, in 

 the following year, 1770, for the Subscrip- 

 tion Purse, against Tortoise and Bellario, 

 two first-rate racers, but aged, Eclipse took 

 the lead : and the jockey being unable to 

 hold him, he was more than a distance before 

 the other Horses at the end of two miles, and 

 won the race with the utmost ease. At start- 

 ing, bets of twenty, and in running, £100 

 to a guinea were offered on Eclipse. On 

 a certain race, O'Kelly betted five and six 

 to four, that he posted the Horses : that is 

 to say, named, before starting, the order in 

 which they would run in. When called on 

 to declare, he named — "Eclipse first, the 

 rest in no place," and won his money, 

 Eclipse distancing all the rest ; being dis- 

 tanced, they were consequently, in a sport- 

 ing sense, in no place. 



